Process of bleaching nuts.



UNITED STATES Patented May 5, 1903.

PATENT FFICE.

PROCESS OF BLEACHING NUTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 726,927, dated May 5, 1903. Application filed January 2, 1903. Serial No. 137,576. (No specimens.)

To aZZ whom it may concern;

Be it known that I,'HARRY J. HOFFMAYR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Ventura, in the county of Ventura and State of California, have invented a new and useful Process of Cleaning and Bleaching Walnuts and Almonds, of which the following is a specification.

I accomplish the cleaning and bleaching of the walnuts and almonds by means of the application thereto of the following mixture in the following manner, viz: The mixture is obtained as follows:

1. Dissolve one-quarter of a pound of oxalic acid in one gallon of water.

2. Dissolve one-half pound of hyposulfite of soda (H S O in one gallon of water.

3. To twenty-five pounds of white-pine sawdust add and thoroughly mix (a) one-eighth pint of the oxalic-acid solution mentioned in paragraph 1 and (b) one-quarter of a pint of the hyposulfite-of-soda solution mentioned in paragraph 2.

4. Add to this combination one pint of sulfuric acid fifty-two per cent. strong in enough water to thoroughly dampen the sawdust.

The said twenty-five pounds of sawdust prepared pursuant to the above formula is intended to and should properly bleach and clean two hundred and fifty pounds of nuts.

Mode of appZicaiiom-The said mixture is applied as follows: Place the nuts to be cleaned and bleached in a cylinder. The cylinder is then rotated at a speed of about eighty revolutions per minute for five minutes or more, after which the nuts are dumped out ontoa one-half-inch Wire-mesh screen for the purpose of separating the sawdust from the nuts. Thenuts are then transferred onto a wooden-slat screen one-half-inch mesh and the sawdust thoroughly washed OE With clear water. When the nuts are thoroughly Washed,

the same are put on trays and dried, after which they are packed for the market.

Having described my invention, what I I claim as-new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The herein-described process for cleaning and bleaching nuts by treating them with a mixture comprising a solution of oxalic acid,

hyposulfite of soda and water in the propor- 

